[sor]

what's the best communte by train or bus from seymour to wall street arrival time to work at 9am. should I drive to bridgeport or waterbury?

[seymourct]

I've pasted a picture of the MetroNorth RR routes obtained from the MTA website. You can see the waterbury line. There are stations at each of the towns listed. If you go to the MTA's website and plug in start and end stations they will figure your commute time from each place.

[CENTER] [/CENTER]

[reason180]

Originally Posted by sor

what's the best communte by train or bus from seymour to wall street arrival time to work at 9am. should I drive to bridgeport or waterbury?

You wouldn't drive to Waterbury because that train passes through Seymour en route to Bridgeport.

The train leaves Seymour at 6:18 and arrives in Grand Central at 8:18. From there you could take the 4/5 train down to Wall Street.

The problem would be the return trip. You don't say what time you typically get out of work. There is a train to Seymour that leaves Grand Central at 4:35 and the next one leaves at 7:05. I mentioned in my other post there are rumours that metro-north will add another train but that may or may not happen.

You would be better off driving to Bridgeport and taking the train from there since pretty much between 4:00pm and 8:00pm trains leave nyc every 15 minutes.

Maybe somebody else can tell you how long the drive from Seymour to Bport is during rush hour.

[JayCT]

According to the Metro North schedule, you would have to leave Seymour on the 6:18 AM train to get into Grand Central at 8:19 AM. That will give you a little over 1/2 hour to get downtown by 9:00 AM. Not sure about return trips. Jay

[JayCT]

Forgot to add that it is a 37 minute train ride from Seymour to Bridgeport. It should not take you that long to drive it but keep in mind that sometimes traffic does get busy on the lower section of route 8 when you get near downtown and the train station. Jay

[seymourct]

Starting soon the DOT will be revamping the interchange at Rt8 Derby. While we know that work is supposed to done on off peak hours, it can have a tendancy to spill over into the rushhour; traffic then would route around Rt8. That would potentially make getting around & down to Bridgeport via the roadways take longer. IMO I'd plan 35-40minutes of drive time to get to Bridgeport during peak of the rush. If your going to leave early it will be much better. My spouse drives to Stamford from Seymour very early (6:15am & usually gets there in an 1hr20mns).

Anyway, the daily back up and delays of Rt 8 at exits 3,2,&1 for downtown Bridgeport can wear on you. I used to sit in that log jam years ago when Warnaco was in downtown BPT. Personally, If I had to make the trip, I'd rather sit on a train the whole way vs. the grief of people passing on the right, driving on the shoulder, and cutting you off right at the exit.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JayCT

It should not take you that long to drive it but keep in mind that sometimes traffic does get busy on the lower section of route 8 when you get near downtown and the train station. Jay

Traffic on Rt 8 South can become very heavy beginning in Ansonia and continuing through exit 13 in northern Shelton. Once you are past exit 13, you should be fine until Bridgeport. The ride without traffic is about 20 minutes, with traffic can be 35 to Bridgeport from downtown Seymour.

I know someone who commutes from Seymour to Wilton (a 27 mile drive) and it takes her 90 minutes due to the Merritt Parkway congestion. It's horrible, which is why I never recommend that anyone commuting to NYC take their car. People who claim CT's traffic is nothing compared to other areas of the country should try driving from the Valley to lower Fairfield County at 7am - they will surely change their opinion.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by seymourct

Starting soon the DOT will be revamping the interchange at Rt 8 Derby.

The sign is already warning travelers to "use alternate routes" starting 07/15/2008.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Rich Lee

The sign is already warning travelers to "use alternate routes" starting 07/15/2008.

It will be a huge mess. In downtown Derby, I often sit through a few rounds of changing lights before I move - the revamping will make this much worse. Hopefully it will be straightened out by the time I move back to CT since I have family in the Valley.

[Rich Lee]

I agree. I didn't know how bad the back-up was as a result of the Commodore-Hull Bridge until I started commuting to Shelton. As a result, I go 6 miles out of my way for a more predictable (and quicker) commute by taking Route 69 to Route 15 to Route 8 north.

It's unfortunate to add that much to my carbon footprint, but it beats sitting idle for up to 30 minutes.